The First Maroon War was a conflict between the Jamaican Maroons and the colonial British authorities that started around 1728 and continued until the peace treaties of 1739 and 1740. It was led by self-liberated Africans who set up communities in the mountains. The name "Maroon" was given to these Africans, and for many years they fought the British colonial Government of Jamaica for their freedom. The maroons were very skilled particularly in guerrilla warfare. It was followed about half a century later by the Second Maroon War. Background In 1655, the English defeated the Spanish colonists and took control of most of the Colony of Jamaica. After the Spanish fled, Africans that had previously been enslaved joined the Amerindian population, and some others who had previously escaped slavery, in the centre of Jamaica to form the Windward Maroon communities. The area is known as the Blue Mountains. The white population on the island of Jamaica boomed between 1655 and 1661, swelling to roughly 12,000 white inhabitants. In 1662, however, only a little over 3,000 remained. The white population to slave worker ratio dwindled in the following decades, leaving a majority of slaves and very few white settlers. British forces were unable to establish control over the whole island, so a large portion, and in particular the interior, remained in the hands of the Maroons. For 76 years, there were periodic skirmishes between the British and the Maroons, alongside occasional slave revolts. In 1673, a revolt of 200 slaves in St. Ann Parish created a separate group, the Leeward Maroons. These Maroons united with a group of Malagasy people who had survived a shipwreck and formed their own maroon community in the parish of St. George in northeastern Jamaica. Several more rebellions strengthened the numbers of this Leeward group. Notably, in 1690 a revolt of 400 slaves at Sutton's plantation, in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, considerably strengthened the Leeward Maroons. The First Maroon War took place periodically between 1728 and 1740, and the Maroon leadership during this conflict featured Nanny of the Maroons, who was known for her expertise in guerrilla warfare, and Quao in the Windward Maroons, and Cudjoe and Accompong in the Leeward Maroons. A number of Maroon captains fought under their leadership, such as Welcome and Jeddo for Nanny Town. History of the First Maroon War In September 1728, the British sent more troops to Jamaica, changing the